


The replacement

by lida_sen



Category: Ghost Hunt, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 19:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14408853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lida_sen/pseuds/lida_sen
Summary: After Naru (and Gene) leaves, Mai finds a new friend.





	The replacement

**Author's Note:**

> Don't own GH or TVD, or the characters.

Nothing. For the who-knows-how-many-years that is all Finn knows. The moment when the dagger hits his heart he welcomes it, as an escape from the cruel reality. Vampire. A predator of humans. That is what he is now.

* * *

His mother just wanted to save her family from the fate of their little brother, but instead she turned them into monsters; and their father blamed them for their inability to control the bloodlust. It’s not like they had time to prepare for this transition, like Mikael. Finn’s siblings – especially Kol – raged and destroyed and killed, then got used to their new condition and reveled in it. Finn… couldn’t do it. After sating the initial thirst, he became withdrawn (The others thought he was a bore).  


In the end Klaus had his witches made a few daggers capable of incapacitating the Originals, except him, the hybrid. Finn was daggered, just when he found happiness with Sage and restrained his judgmental opinion a little.

* * *

The nothingness doesn’t last forever, unfortunately. If he is trapped in a coffin, he prefers to feel nothing to the darkness and loneliness that surrounds him now. Does Klaus know that consciousness returns after so many years? Is this torture intended or the result of carelessness?  


So, first there is nothing, then comes darkness, then unexpectedly light.

* * *

Taniyama Mai – as her coworkers often mention it – is a danger magnet, but fortunately a lucky one. Not even two weeks elapse after Naru (Noll, or Oliver Davis) left Japan, and she is closer to death than ever.  


Mai heads home after a tiring (boring) day at school made better by a fun afternoon with Michiru and Keiko. The sun has already set, and she shivers from a foreboding feeling as she boards the train. She bumps into a blond foreigner in her maybe-twenties (it’s so hard to guess with non-Asians!) as she anxiously looks back over her shoulder, apologizes with a polite smile, hurries in the passenger car and thinks nothing of the meeting.  


Mai calms down only after she locks the door of her apartment.  


It’s only her luck that her encounter with Death came in the form of a bubbly blond vampire, who likes to travel and chooses to drink from blood bags and never kills. It’s also her luck that by touching Lexi Branson Mai finds her new guide to her psychic abilities.

* * *

Naru may have temporarily closed SPR, but Mai accompanies Ayako and Bou-san on their jobs from time to time. Now that they know of her powers, Ayako teaches Mai simple warding charms, and both make Mai practice the previously taught incantations. Thankfully these jobs are nothing like their previous cases, no life-threatening situations occur, so it takes a while for Mai to really comprehend that Gene left her dreams.  


She spends the night with Ayako in a hunted house next to a forest – it is the only reason Ayako accepted the job – when her first dream in months happens. The client – Uchikawa Akiko – is the new owner of the hunting lodge, and she complains about hearing two male’s voice having an argument every night, but there is no sign them when she looks around.  
Ayako plans to perform exorcism in the morning. They arrive late because of a traffic accident, and after the long travel they just want to rest a little, as ghosts are usually not active with new persons present.  


Because of this, waking up to a dream was kind of surprising.

* * *

_Izuko/Mai watched her husband and brother-in-law’s shouted argument became even more heated. Takahiro arrived at the lodge sooner than expected from a business trip and caught them in flagrante. He took out the shotgun aiming it at Yusei._  


The scene disappears, and Mai stands in the middle of the forest. She hears footsteps behind her, and turns with a smile on her face, hoping against hope that Gene is there.  


What greets her is a tall Caucasian male with brown hair, and hazel-green eyes. Mai never seen him before. He wears clothes that look very old, like he’s just stepped out form a historical movie. The best of all: he seems just as surprised as Mai.  


“Who are you and how are you in my dream?” asked Mai, shocked.  


“It’s a dream? I… I don’t know… and I’m Finn.”  


It’s lucky that Mai got used to the lack of honorifics with Naru.

* * *

“I don’t know how to ask it but… are you dead? The last guy who was in my dreams was my guide to my powers, and he was killed. We had similar abilities. Were you… Are you a psychic too?”  


“I’m not entirely dead. I am a vampire.”  


Let’s just say that it becomes one of Mai’s longest uninterrupted dream sessions, with a plethora of explanations.  


(Takahiro killed Yusei and reported it as a hunting accident. He wasn’t investigated because of his connections, and Izuko was forced to keep her silence. The ghost disappeared as Yusei finally told someone the real story, and ‘The Hunting at the hunting lodge’ case was closed. Takahiro died years ago in a traffic accident.)

* * *

After investigating psychic phenomena, learning that vampires, werewolves and witches exist is not surprising, but at the same time terrifying. The thought that she could face supernatural danger outside of work gives Mai many sleepless nights.  


When she manages to sleep, she meets with Finn in her dreams at least twice a week. These meetings are equally informative for the ancient vampire ( _“I have never met someone with your appearance. Where are you from?” “Japan.” “Japan? Never heard of it.” “Then how are we speaking?” “Blood bank. Blood is stored for medical purposes, and I could drink without harming anyone?”_ ) and the teenager ( _“You need to practice the same way as we did with our magic. Let me lead you through the steps I was taught by Mother.”_ ) even if the frequency of the dreams is unanticipated.  


In the breaks between training they talk about their lives, families, experiences. Mai is outraged, as an orphan she can’t understand how Klaus could dismiss his older brother so easily. Finn becomes more than just a mentor, he is brother figure like Bou-san, and Finn sadly realizes that during the short months of their acquaintance he built a closer bond with the girl than the one he had with Rebekah in the last decades before his daggering. As the time flies, he watches as the independent teenager grows to a young adult.

* * *

As Mai talks about the case they named ‘The Bloodstained Labyrinth’ an idea comes to her that she can’t get out of her head. She managed to give her key to Masako when she was kidnapped. With practice would she be able to remove the dagger from Finn’s heart? Their existing connection – which still baffles them – might be enough to find his coffin. The vampire managed to show Mai some of his memories, including the appearance of his siblings. If he concentrates hard, could he show the place his body is stored? It is worth a few tries.

* * *

Finn is kind of disappointed by the warehouse they are stored at, but the absence of dust means that Klaus always keeps them close during his travels. A bit morbid but might be the sign of familial love. (Or just possessive behavior.)  


He doesn’t understand why Mai asked him to show his not-so-final resting place, until he sees the (in his opinion) funny look of concentration he associates with astral projecting on her face. She opens the casket and with a triumphant smile pulls out the dagger.  


“I really hope it actually happened.” grins Mai. “Don’t forget my address!” she shouts cheerfully as she fades.  


Mai’s kindness never ceases to surprise him. Although waking up in an empty warehouse with no blood or humans near after 900 years spent desiccated is far from ideal.

* * *

Finn completes the travel to Japan in record time, thankful for Mai for her lessons in modern… everything. To think that mankind reached the moon decades ago – it still makes Finn admire the ingenuity of the human race.  


He catches a taxi at the airport, pays with compelled money while inwardly apologizing, and arrives at the address he memorized ages ago. Ha knocks on the door, and the well-known chocolate-colored eyes and smile greets him.  


“Okaerinasai.”

* * *

The next time Mai dreams on a case she meets with a young man with brown hair and brown eyes. She recognizes him from the memories Finn showed her; he is Kol, the youngest living brother turned to a vampire. He looks around curiously and smiles when he spots Mai, scanning her from head to toe.  


“Well well well… What do we have here? Hello, darling.”  


“Ugh… Is my mind some kind of daggered Mikaelson tourist spot?!” Mai buries her face in her palms.  


The shocked expression on the vampire’s face is priceless.

* * *

A year later, at the family dinner debacle Elijah is surprised by the content of Finn’s coffin. When Rebekah and Kol attacks Klaus in revenge for the time stolen from them, the hybrid waits for the appearance of his oldest brother. He never comes.  


“Where is Finn?” he asks with worry that surprises his siblings.  


“His coffin was full of stones. How and when did you manage to lose Finn, brother?” comes the cheeky question from Kol. “by now he might be on the other side of the world.”  


(The paper with Mai’s address is burning his pocket from inside.)

**Author's Note:**

> It might have been inspired by Dreams of Time (TheDarkestFallingStar), but I'm not sure :)


End file.
